Caster



(No Model.)

L. B. DENTON.

GASTER.

No. 555,683. Patented Mar. 3, 189.6.

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Witnesses. lnve ntor.

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M Attorney.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEMI B. DENTON, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

CASTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 555,683, datedMarch 3, 1896. Application filed July 11, 1895. Serial No. 555,671. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEMI B. DENTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Caster-Gases, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in cases for use with detachable furniture-casters, and its objects are, first, to economize in the material necessary for forming the case; second, to provide for making the case of a single piece of metal, and, third, to reduce the friction of the caster-stem upon the case when the moving of the furniture causes the stem to revolve to the minimum and I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of my case. Fig. 2 is a top plan of the same. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the same with one arm in section to show the form of the same laterally, and Fig. 4 is a plan of the stock as cut out to form'the case and arms or track-plate complete.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throu ghout the several views.

To construct my case I form a blank of sheet metal of substantially the form shown in Fig. 4:, having a body A divided at one end by slits b to form the arms 13, the outer ends of which are provided with points I). To complete the case from this blank the body A is formed into a cylinder, as indicated in Fig. 2. The arms 13 are then bent at right angles with the body on the line as a: of Fig. 4:, and the points I) are turned or bent on the line y y up at right angles with the arms, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, so that the body will enter the hole in the post. The arms extend out at right angles therewith in position for the end of the post to rest upon in the usual way, and the points b will enter into the end of the post in the usual manner for the purpose, first, of holding the case in the post, and, second, to avert the danger of splitting the post by the action of the caster.

For the purpose of reducing the friction of the turning caster-stem to the minimum and at the same time render it impossible for the edge on the arms B to tear slivers ofi of the floor or mar it when the furniture is being drawn over the floor in moving it from place to'place without the caster in, I make the arms concave on the upper side and convex on the lower, so that the collar 0 on the stem bears only on narrow smooth surfaces at four points. In the first instance and in the second instance the corners cannot come in contact with the floor, so that while not more than one-half as much stock is required to manufacture a case as is required where a separate track-plate, so called, is used, the utility of my track-plate (arms) is fully equal to the ordinary track-plate.

The blank from which this case is made is oblong and about one-half longer than it is wide, and so cut that absolutely no waste of material is suffered in constructing the entire case and track-plate.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A caster-case constructed of a single piece of oblong sheet metal, the lower end of said sheet of metal slitted to form arms, the solid portion of said sheet rolled to form a cylindrical tube open at the top so that the end of the pintle will pass-through and proj ect above the top of the case, the slitted portion thrown out to form radiating arms, said arms made convex in cross-section on the under surface, and points turned up on the ends of "said arms, all constructed without waste of surplus material when cutting the blanks from which the case and plate are formed, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a blank for a caster-case, a piece of sheet metal out oblong of uniform size and puncture-d as on the line a: acand slitted from said punctures to the end of the blank so that the arms formed by said slits may be bent at right angles to radiate from the lower end of the body when formed without danger of breaking at the line of angle, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

Signed at Grand Rapids, Michigan, June 20, 1895.

LEMI B. DENTON.

In presence of- I. J. CILLEY, ALBERT WELLS. 

